Sun Valley temple gives the gift of trees
The Jewish holiday Tu B’Shevat is a celebration of the bounty of nature, usually commemorated by eating fruit and planting trees.
But members of Valley Beth Israel, a Sun Valley Conservative synagogue, added a new tradition Sunday, distributing fruit trees to dozens of families from the surrounding community in a symbol of sharing that they hope will bear fruit for years to come.
About 80 families -- enrolled in the Roscoe Canyon Child Care Resource Center, which operates a Head Start program in facilities it leases from the temple -- signed up to receive apple, orange, apricot, peach and nectarine trees, which were donated by Tree- People, a nonprofit environmental group.
Sunday’s ceremony was presided over by Beth Israel Rabbi Mark Goodman, who is also a cantor. Goodman sang a special song about olive trees in Hebrew.
Afterward, community members and Valley Beth Israel congregants planted a 10-foot carrotwood tree in front of the temple, with children throwing in handfuls of dirt.
Families then collected their fruit trees. Rafael Melgar lives about two blocks from the temple and said he would plant his nectarine tree in his frontyard, where it will join avocado, orange, lemon, plum and pomegranate trees.
He said his daughter Angelica, 4, already tends to the trees and is growing up learning to love nature and eating a diet of fresh fruit.
“It’s a nice experience to see kids eating from trees they helped to plant,” Melgar said.
TreePeople distributes about 9,000 fruit trees each year, mostly in impoverished communities, and Sunday’s event was a perfect melding of interests, said Torin Dunnavant, the group’s community manager.
Traditionally, Tu B’Shevat marks the “new year for trees.” In biblical times it was used to calculate the annual levy of fruit at harvest. The holiday evolved in Israel to mark the arrival of spring and is known as the Jewish Arbor Day, associated with a connection to nature and renewal.
The theme of renewal is close to the hearts of Valley Beth Israel congregants. The temple was founded in 1948 as the Sun Valley Jewish Community Center. But over the decades, the once-thriving Jewish population began to age and migrate to the West San Fernando Valley, leading to a decline in membership.
A turnaround came in 1999, with the arrival of Goodman, whose energy and efforts to modernize services have attracted a new generation of younger families, including some Latinos, who are now the largest ethnic group in the surrounding community.
Goodman started off at Valley Beth Israel as a cantor. But when the synagogue had trouble finding a part-time rabbi, Goodman asked if he could step in. He was so successful that temple leaders agreed to pay for his rabbinical studies in return for a long-term contract.
“For a synagogue to find the right rabbi and cantor is a tricky marriage,” Goodman said. “You have to find the right personality at the right time. This is a good fit. I have a wonderful congregation, and I think my vision was the right vision at the right time.”
Goodman said he has sought to bridge the old with the new, introducing a lively musical component in English and Hebrew on Friday nights while preserving a more traditional Conservative service on Saturday mornings.
While Goodman presides over just about every aspect of life at Valley Beth Israel -- he is also principal of the religious school, teaches adult education and counsels couples -- his is hardly the profile of a typical spiritual leader.
He earned a master’s degree in music from Cal State L.A. and works outside of the synagogue as a voice coach for singers from rock to Broadway.
Goodman is an adjunct instructor of Jewish history and religion at Los Angeles Valley College, speaks five languages and is adept at martial arts. He is also the parent of two children: a 13-year-old whom he brought to the United States from China after hearing news reports about neglect in orphanages in that country; and a 9-year-old who was in the Los Angeles County foster care system.
On the breadth of his activities, Goodman refers to the Army saying “Be all you can be” as his governing philosophy.
“We all are capable as human beings of learning and being so much,” he said. “I don’t like to waste the potential that God gave me, so I try to do everything I can to do more and be more.”
